We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Don't be played by the people making this election about personalities.
This is an economy election. It is the Workers (DJT, Bernie) vrs the Smirkers, those who "game the system" for their own benefit (HRC and the rest of the Republican primary field). Pick a side and vote.

How did Bernie get to be a Worker? I did 30 sec. of googling and can't find any mention of him ever holding any kind of non-political job, even as a kid. And you know if he'd ever sold newspapers or shined shoes, he would it from the rooftops.

Actually, it is my understanding that he did some manual work in his youth before running for Mayor. Agreed that he has been at the public trough for his adult life.
But that is not the reference, in this case. Rather it is that as a Presidential candidate, he initially pushed back, on behalf of Main Street, against the Skimmers in the Davos caste, Wall Street, K Street and their minions.

Gusty Winds said...
And they know damn well that much of his battle against entrenched elites is the same as Bernie's. His fight for the working middle class much the same as Bernie's. Trump's working middle class are miners and steel workers, Bernie's faculty and students. Trump's fight against voter fraud and Clinton corruption is where they split. Bernie is now part of the corruption. Engulfed by it. Stockholm syndrome perhaps.
Fen said...
Actually, there is a huge group of Bernie supporters on Trump's reddit page rooting for him. They understand that this election is about the People Vs the Political Class. They experienced firsthand how the Establishment Party (E) rigged their primaries to select Hillary.

Good to have them on board. They have given us useful tips.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6329595&postID=1128198735431760521

"Is there a conservative case for voting for Clinton" Absolutely not! The Frum quote from the article "[Clinton] is a patriot. She will uphold the sovereignty and independence of the United States. She will defend allies. She will execute the laws with reasonable impartiality. . . .She will not outright defy legality altogether. Above all, she can govern herself; the first indispensable qualification for governing others." Frum is delusional or on drugs or both. Clinton has frequently bypassed the laws for her own benefit. And, a conservative would never think it is just fine and dandy to kill a baby the day of it's birth and call it justified. Passing state secrets.......

JC: "Is there a conservative case for voting for Clinton" Absolutely not!

The election has been cast as between normal and not normal. As such, the conservative choice would be for normal, even if that normal will move the country to the political left, even if Clinton is not quite the incrementalist she appears to be.

Sorry, I do not consider the Clinton's normal by any measure. Perhaps I come from an area that has morals and follow laws. If you consider the Clinton's to have normal behavior I'm glad you aren't making my life decisions for me.

JC: I do not consider the Clinton's normal by any measure. Perhaps I come from an area that has morals and follow laws.

There is no evidence of illegality, other than Bill Clinton's attempt to hide his infidelities. Nor is there evidence they have more than the usual moral peccadillos. In any case, we were referring to modes of thought.

For instance, Trump has said Saudi Arabia should acquire a nuclear weapon and that the U.S. shouldn't meet its treaty obligations with regards to NATO. These are not "normal" political positions. The latter would constitute breaking America's promises, while the latter would just be insane.

jma: the Rosenbergs were executed for deeds ten times less offensive than what the Clintons have managed.

That's just silly. The Rosenbergs were executed for purposefully giving atom bomb technology to the Soviets. Discussing classified information by email, most of it at the lowest level of classification, is hardly the same thing.

Notably, Stockman points to political dysfunction; the inability of the Congress to meet the obligations inherent in raising the debt ceiling, and the probable refusal to consider fiscal stimulus, turning a cyclical recession into a panic.

"the inability of the Congress to meet the obligations inherent in raising the debt ceiling"

What about the inability of congress to create a budget? Or the inability to budget and spend only what revenues they actually receive? IMHO if the Congress fails to meet the obligations inherent in raising the debt ceiling THAT will be the first, however painful, step in making America great again.

A default is inevitable, thanks to Obama. We will not and can not pay back the $20 trillion we already borrowed. Once interest rates regress to the mean we will not and can not even pay the interest on the debt we already have incurred. We are hooked on debt and we can not and will not stop borrowing and spending more than we take in from taxes. Those three things ARE true and have been true for almost 8 years now.

The only difference between our position today and actual default is we own the printing presses and still have credit. If it were not for these two things we would have to admit default today and last year and the year before, etc. Obama has killed us we are now just awaiting the coroner/Grim Reaper to pronounce as dead (broke) and in default.

I think that was a punt. I assume you would agree that if we cannot make the interest payments (without printing money) that is a defacto default. I assume you would agree that if we cannot pay our debts and/or fund our necessary government functions because no one will loan us money that would also be a default.

However if what you are saying is that as long as we control the printing press we will never default I have to believe you are naive. OR perhaps you were the economic advisor to the German Emperor Wilhelm II during the Weimar Republic and history has taught you nothing.

SweetPea: I assume you would agree that if we cannot make the interest payments (without printing money) that is a defacto default.

But that's the point. The U.S. can print dollars. And no, that would not be a credit default.

If the debt were denominated in Euros or Yen, then the U.S. would have to find a way to earn Euros or Yen to meet its obligations. But the U.S. debt is denominated in U.S. dollars, meaning the U.S. can always meet its legal obligations.

Now, you might argue that the currency could become debased, and that is certainly possible, but at this time, U.S. securities are in very high demand even after years of near zero returns. Nonetheless, the U.S. can't default on its debt as long as it doesn't choose to do so.

It's actually quite the opposite of what you say, for if the U.S. were to voluntarily default, such as by not raising the debt ceiling, then the currency would become debased immediately as everyone rushed to sell U.S. securities of very uncertain value.

That was actually funny, I assume you have no education or knowledge in economics. You do not know what you do not know. You danced and side stepped and pretty much made a lot of foolish statements. You need to consult with someone who has studied economics and get your shit straight.

Endless Scandal: That's What a Hillary Presidency Would Look Like ... If Hillary Clinton wins Tuesday, she’ll head into office under the cloud of two major FBI investigations, including one that’s reportedly “likely” to lead to an indictment.

I agree that the sense of shame that normal people might feel is something that NEITHER Clinton feels. But that is not the point. I disagree with Buchanan. What Hillary did in her pay-for-play scheme is the issue, the email scandal was only to cover up the evidence of the pay-for-play. Buchanan is wrong in his assertion that this is only potentially worse than Watergate. Watergate was a minor burglary. Hillary and her minions did more than that with the hired thugs sent to Trump rallies. The pay-for-play scheme is far and away the biggest scandal in the last 100 years. Teapot Dome? Amateur night. Watergate? Small potatoes.

Zach gets paid to tell you that I am wrong. So he/they will be by soon to tell you that Comey didn't find evidence to file charges, thus this isn't a story. The reason Comey didn't file charges is that Hillary destroyed evidence (which we will see when the files from Weiner's computer are analyzed) and that makes this far more disturbing than Watergate.

You said, "What Hillary did in her pay-for-play scheme is the issue." You argued "The reason Comey didn't file charges is that Hillary destroyed evidence (which we will see when the files from Weiner's computer are analyzed) and that makes this far more disturbing than Watergate."

So, our question stands. How do you know what is on Weiner's computer and how it relates to the investigation? Or are you just making stuff up that feels true?

truthiness, the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true.

Our country has never seen this level of corruption. It started with Obama ruling unlawfully by decree and Congress doing nothing about it. But now it is clear that the Obama administration, and especially the Justice Department and the IRS, are totally corrupt. Plus add in the unconstitutional Obamacare destroying our health care system. And we know the Clinton have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in payoffs and compromised our national security and sovereignty, and despite that are quite possibly about to take control of our country, in part through fraud and deceit.

Anonymous: Maybe "normal" is a pol spreading their legs for Wall Street, the multinational megacorps

Leaving aside your misogyny; yes, the nexus of money and power is normal, indeed, inevitable in many respects. The Clintons came to realize this in the aftermath of the Nixon Administration, and have played the system to advance what they consider the benefit of the American people. An argument can be made that, having wallowed in corruption for so long that they have lost sight of their ideals. However, Clinton has been steadfast in her defense of families and children, so the question isn't whether she has lost sight of her goals, but whether she is too damaged to be successful.

Donald J. Trump said: he hoped Russian intelligence services had successfully hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, and encouraged them to publish whatever they may have stolen, essentially urging a foreign adversary to conduct cyberespionage against a former secretary of state.

Wrong. It's clear from what Trump said that he would not be surprised if the Russians had hacked her unsecured server (with the cryptic domain name of "clintonemail.com") and if they had he would welcome it if they released all those deleted emails the FBI didn't have. To believe this in any way is an encouragement to conduct cyber espionage against the former Secretary of State is ludicrous. First, her unapproved email server was no longer operational so it couldn't be hacked and second, if her server was operational, those emails, at the time, were thought to be deleted so how could they be retrieved by anybody? But then, the left has mastered the skill of selling idiocy to people who are too lazy to think about what they say.

If Trump wins the election, Canada will be building a wall so quickly to keep out the progressives and American illegals looking for another nest it will make your head spin. And Canada enforces their immigration laws, unlike the U.S. So it will be an interesting situation.

"The question raised is whether the U.S. can be forced into default when the debt is denominated in U.S. currency."

Well yes you are 100% correct. As long as we can print money we do not have to acknowledge the defacto default until it takes a wheelbarrow of U.S. currency to buy a loaf of bread. IMHO YOUR interpretation of what a U.S. default is not compared with my interpretation of what a U.S. default IS... Is a distinction without a difference.

It reminds me of the movie with Walter Matthau where his wife actually catches him in bed with another woman. He denies her accusations of cheating as he calmly gets dressed and leaves the room and drives home with her still insisting he was cheating on her and him still denying it. This seems to be YOUR answer to the obvious economic disaster that is our national debt; i.e. to keep denying it and telling us all that we are not seeing what we are seeing. Have you no shame?

SweetPea: As long as we can print money we do not have to acknowledge the defacto default until it takes a wheelbarrow of U.S. currency to buy a loaf of bread.

That's not default. The image of the wheelbarrow full of cash is from Weimar Germany which was required to pay reparations in hard currency, gold or equivalent. That is not the situation the U.S. faces.

SweetPea: IMHO YOUR interpretation of what a U.S. default is not compared with my interpretation of what a U.S. default IS... Is a distinction without a difference.

Default has a specific meaning. Default means to fail to meet a legal obligation to repay. As U.S. creditors have agreed to accept U.S. dollars as repayment, the U.S. will never face an involuntary default.

SweetPea: This seems to be YOUR answer to the obvious economic disaster that is our national debt

That's a different claim. By your reckoning, failing to meet required payments would be no different than continuing to muddle along. In fact, default would lead to immediate global economic chaos.

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